Kathy Edwards

From Deficit to Disenfranchisement: Reframing Youth Electoral Participation

Low youth electoral turnouts are considered problematic in many democracies. Here I explore youth electoral engagement in the Australian context where the policy literature attributes low youth electoral enrolments to apathetic and disassociated youth, and the response is Civics and Citizenship education. This construction of youth and advocacy of education prevails despite recent challenges by researchers describing young people as interested in politics and committed to democracy, as well as evidence that education is limited in its capacity to effect change. Here, I ask why, if young people have access to education and express interest in politics, do many still not enrol and vote? With reference to data collected as part of the Australian Youth Electoral Study I argue for a reframing of both the problem and the solution. Instead of focusing on the deficiencies of individual youth, I shift the focus to barriers that can precipitate young peoples disenfranchisement. In doing so I examine not ‘deficient youth’, but the capacity of Australias democracy to facilitate youth electoral engagement. In this context I examine the role that the state plays in constructing these barriers and causing the disenfranchisement of many young Australians.

Does civic education for young people increase political participation? A systematic review

This paper uses established systematic and transparent methods to review the evidence for the effect of civic education on young people’s normative political participation. Extensive electronic searches were undertaken of social science and education databases. The searches yielded 6890 titles; both authors independently screened titles and abstracts to apply predefined inclusion criteria. Nine studies were included in the review. Given the heterogeneity of these studies, statistical pooling was not possible and a narrative analysis has been performed. The results indicate little evidence for civic education having a discernible or direct effect on voting or voter registration/enrolment. Some support was found for civic education increasing activities of political expression (e.g. signing a petition). The implications for policy and future research are discussed.

Why Has Civic Education Failed to Increase Young People's Political Participation?

Recent years have seen a revival of civic education. Advocates of this policy have cited the alleged declining normative political participation of young people as a primary reason for its need. This paper builds on the findings of a recent systematic review that examined the effect of civic education on young peoples level of normative political engagement. The review found little evidence for civic education having a clear effect on voting/registering to vote, but did identify modest positive effects on forms of political expression (e.g. signing petitions). Hence, it seems civic education has broadly ‘failed’ in its specified aim. We argue here that this ‘failure’ reflects a mechanistic approach to policy and a naive notion that ‘knowledge will result in action’, neglecting insights from sociological literature that shows structural barriers to young peoples political participation and the displacement of electoral politics by new hybrid and creative forms of participation.

Prostitution and Sex Trafficking: What are the Problems Represented to Be? A Discursive Analysis of Law and Policy in Sweden and Victoria, Australia

Abstract The issue of prostitution has engendered much division amongst feminists, frequently resulting in polemical stances in a polarised debate. A similar pattern has more latterly emerged with respect to sex trafficking. An added difficulty is that statistical evidence regarding these issues is scarce and unreliable. Through a new discursive lens of policy analysis developed by Carol Bacchi (the WPR approach) this paper considers and examines the ‘demand side’ of prostitution, with particular reference to its relationship with sex trafficking. Two policy and legislative approaches are compared, the Swedish model where the client is criminalized and the Victorian model where the sex industry is legalised and regulated.